Glancing over his logbook again Arthur tripled checked the time steadily ticking away on his old pocket watch.
Twenty-three more minutes.
Shoving the watch back into the inside pocket of his black suit, Arthur felt a small bubble of satisfaction at his punctuality. He was early as usual and that's exactly how he preferred to do his job.
Walking through the automatic glass sliding doors his nose scrunched at the sterilized smell of cleaners and antiseptics. The large room had white walls and tiled flooring. People were sitting in waiting chairs as the nurses rapidly typed on their computers at the front desk.
None paid attention to Arthur as he made his way through the rushing nurses and doctors. He walked past patients who slowly shuffled down the brightly lit hallways. Some had their loved ones by them, their quiet chatter filling the empty space in the orderly chaos.
Arthur's strides were long as he briskly marched down one of the many hallways. His black suit a stark contrast to the white walls and lab coats rushing by. Through the many open doors along the hallway he stole glances into the small rooms.
Some were empty, waiting for their next occupant. Others had several people gathered around the patient, whether family or doctors Arthur didn't care to stop and look. He's been here before. Too many times to count, the stone faces of the doctors, the hopeful looks of the patients and the devastated ones of their families. Or at least those that had families. However their fate didn't affect Arthur at all. No, this was routine by now.
Finally stopping in front of a partially closed room, number 550, Arthur paused to check his watch.
Sixteen minutes left.
Pushing the door open, it creaked as he strolled inside the dimly lit room. Several machines quietly hummed, their long wires intertwining among themselves as they clung to the body lying on the bed. A steady beeping of the heart monitor filled the quiet space.
Taking off his hat he placed it on top of his brief case which he put on the floor. Arthur sat in the vacant chair crossing his legs and pulled out the pocket watch. Rubbing his thumb over the worn out metal, his green eyes looked at the engraved raven on the clock's lid. Popping the lid open he observed the second hand steadily moving forward, sure of its purpose, the minute and the hour hands steadily followed at a much slower pace.
Fourteen minutes left, the longest handle said.
The heart monitor continued its constant beep as the girl on the bed breathed in and out.
Snapping the lid closed, Arthur pocketed the watch and pulled out his logbook from the inside of his jacket pocket. Acid green eyes scanned over the profile.
Name: Rena Kane.
Age: ten years old.
Family: none.
Cause of appointment: Admitted into Saint Mary's Hospital last night (xx/xx/xxxx) at 10:48pm after a car accident. Parents killed instantly (note: already collected). The child still alive by the time the emergency crew got on scene. The subject suffered blood loss and several major injuries from the impact. Collection is scheduled for 2:13am.
"Poor thing, she doesn't deserve this."
Flashing his eyes up from the logbook, Arthur frowned at the figure sitting on the bed side.
"It's irrelevant if she deserves it or not." Arthur promptly stated.
The man in front of him sighed and turned to look at him. "But she still has so much to experience." He frowned, blue eyes swimming with regret and sorrow. "Things she'll never know..." The man trailed off looking back at the girl.
Her chest was steadily moving up and down emphasizing the life coursing through her.
Arthur's stomach twisted. "You shouldn't be talking like this, Alfred, you know that it not our place."
The other man didn't respond right away a thoughtful look graced his face framed by his golden hair and the soft light from his halo. Arthur liked to watch Alfred's face whenever they would meet. The soft round contours and the honest open look the angel had would always calm him.
Alfred's white wings twitched in annoyance, his gaze still on the human girl. "What's the point of all this then?" He finally stated, frustratingly gesturing with his arms and wings puffing up. "I mean they are born only to die." The angel's expression softened. "And some go so young…is this really worth it?" He turned his blue eyes at Arthur as if asking for the answer that he knew none of them had.
Arthur turned away, unable to meet Alfred's pleading and questioning look. Instead he looked at the girl and pulled out his watch.
Eight minutes the clock ticked on.
Mastering up his resolve Arthur looked at Alfred's angelic face. "I don't know, but she was scheduled to go today." Then as if realizing how heartless that sounded the reaper quickly added. "I'm sure once she's in heaven she'll get to be with her parents. At least she'll have that." Arthur offered a sad smile, but the angel scowled and narrowed his eyes at the reaper.
"Being stuck in heaven for eternity, only to relive your happiest memories, which, she only had ten years to create and experience. Is that fair?!" The glow of Alfred's halo intensified and his whole body shimmered with the golden light.
Arthur's frown deepened, the intense light only mildly annoying his eyes. "I never said it was fair."
He looked at the profile again. The little black book was still sitting open in his lap, holding the names of those that have long since passed and those that still await their time.
Ten years old was too young to really do anything bad in the world, she'll have a straight lift to heaven. But the angel's words run in his head 'is this fair?' He reaped people that have done terrible things in this world, condemned to an eternity of hell, but not all were born bad to begin with. As children they had their innocence which they lost as they grew older. Who's to say that she would have been granted such an easy entrance to heaven if she lived to be an old woman?
And who were they to even question this reality? The reaper and the angel were born into their duties. They didn't know anything else outside their given tasks. Arthur himself came out of nothing. Didn't remember anything outside the 'training' where he was shown how to reap souls. But this question kept coming back each time he meet Alfred.
Arthur remembered that time several eons ago when he met this peculiar angel.
Alfred was new then. His first assignment was to guide a soul, Arthur just reaped, to heaven. He was bright and full of life and Arthur couldn't help himself. He wanted that light.
Over the years their work made them cross paths far too often, and eventually they formed a friendship of sorts. Alfred started to confide in the reaper about his doubts and question their existence. Was there something else other than eternity of watching people die? The angel's blue eyes would shimmer, and it was then the reaper begun the question his own existence and purpose.
The loud ticking of the clock brought Arthur out of his thoughts.
Four minutes left.
The machine beeped on.
Rena inhaled in and exhaled out.
"What if we don't do it?" Alfred suddenly spoke up.
"What?" Arthur almost laughed.
But the angel's gaze pierced into his dormant soul with a determined look.
"You can't be serious." The reaper shook his head. "We have to do our job, Alfred." He firmly stated.
"Or what?" The angel countered.
Arthur didn't know. This particular issue of what happens if souls weren't reaped wasn't in the guide book. It wasn't even a taboo subject, because no one in their right mind thought to question their purpose, their whole existence.
"Alfred," the reaper started patiently, "this is the natural way of things, a system that needs to be followed. Who knows what will happen if we don't."
The angel rose and marched to the seated reaper. Grabbing each of the armrests he leaned over the seated man. "Exactly. Who knows. Maybe we're just lab rats for someone's experiment? Maybe if we don't take her soul she'll get better and live and grow old." Alfred was glowing brighter with excitement. "Maybe this isn't the only reality." He was smiling as he leaned down to whispers against Arthur's ear. "Maybe we can meet when no one dies."
Arthur's breath hitched. Alfred was nuzzling his neck lightly tracing his warm lips over the reaper's exposed skin. Out of the corner of his eye Arthur could still see the clock ticking away.
Two minutes.
He cupped the back of Alfred's head, turning his own face and pressed his cold lips against the angel's cheek. Taking a moment to enjoy the warmth radiating from the other man he came to love, Arthur inhaled. Crisp smell, that Arthur identified as the endless sky, and the softness of the feathers surrounded them as Alfred clung to him.
Aware that time was quickly running out, Arthur regrettably slowly dragged his hand against Alfred's chest to push away.
The angel made a noise of protest, but reluctantly allowed the reaper out of his embrace.
Arthur pocketed his book and his watch and stood. He ran his long bony fingers across the angel's face. "Maybe it's possible," Arthur whispered as Alfred's hand came up to grasp his own, holding it tightly. "But I just don't know."
The angel's expressing was heartbreaking, and the reaper allowed the taller to pull them into a kiss. Moving with and against those warm lips Arthur learned to cherish, he couldn't help but melt into the other allowing his senses and body to be lost in the sensations that radiated from them.
Feeling and ecstasy of life which flowed from the angel into his own dead vessel, Arthur opened his mouth for the angel, who eagerly and perhaps a little desperately mapped him with his tongue.
Tangling their tongues together, Arthur moaned as Alfred's hands ran over his body unabashedly rubbing and groping. The reaper welcomed the surge of life, even craved it, feeling as if he was truly alive only when he was tangled in Alfred.
But, as with all things, it had to come to an end.
Slowly breaking away Arthur cupped Alfred's face in is hands, brushing his thumbs into the rosy dusted cheeks. The angel's blue eyes swam with sorrow and longing and Arthur couldn't help but to press one last chaste kiss on those warm and slightly swollen lips.
"Maybe one day we'll be strong enough to find out." The reaper quietly said once he pulled away.
Letting go of his lover, Arthur picked up his briefcase and put on his hat. He walked to the bed where the girl was still breathing, the wires connected to her body sustaining her. The reaper through of the life she won't ever know and of the life he could only dream about. He leaned over her and brushed her dark long hair away from her face.
Streams of magic, or perhaps a curse as Arthur came to called it, rushed from his fingers into her body. Her heart slowed and she tried to breathe faster. The machines rhythmic beeping became sporadic, to flat line only a few moments later.
Alarm went off and within seconds nurses and doctors rushed in, creating havoc in the small room. They frantically tried to revive her, but humans can't cheat true death.
Arthur turner and looked at Alfred. The angel was kneeling beside the girl holding her hand. She looked confused and a little scared, but Alfred's calming presence and voice calmed her. Brushed her hair Alfred asked. "Do you want to see your mom and dad?"
She quickly turned and nodded excitingly. Smiling Alfred stood up and looked at Arthur.
The reaper tipped his hat and smiled. "Take care of her."
Turning away he walked back into the white hallways leaving the frantic yelling of the hospital workers behind. Looking at his logbook Arthur wondered not for the first time since meeting Alfred, what was the point.
Becoming friends with the odd angel has brought Arthur intense feelings he didn't know he had. Alfred had this fresh something that made the old reaper question everything he'd ever known. When the angel insisted on calling them lovers Arthur laughed, saying there was no such thing for their kind. But as time passed, years, centuries, millenniums Arthur began to see what Alfred saw.
If this was all there was, what was the point of their existence? Will they dance in limbo for eternity? And is there even such a thing as eternity. What happens after it ends? Maybe it will be like Alfred said it would. Maybe if this stops, they can finally meet someplace where no one dies.
Seventeen minutes remaining.